Article

2012's Top Cloud Solutions

by Paige Leidig | SAPinsider

January 1, 2012

Cloud technology is changing the face of business as we know it and is helping companies reduce costs, maximize productivity, and adapt to a constantly evolving market. Recognizing the demand for cloud solutions that deliver real-time value, SAP has created cloud offerings that solve business problems in new ways and extend customers' existing investments. This article details SAP's top cloud solutions and how they can help your business thrive.

Cloud has become an increasingly important consideration for companies that want to reduce costs, maximize employee effectiveness, and react to a constantly changing market — which represents nearly every company today. With this in mind, SAP has redefined the way it designs and develops software. Our customers are clamoring for cloud solutions that embrace new technologies, provide better ways to solve business problems, and deliver real-time value.

SAP’s cloud solutions directly address these customer requirements and allow businesses to respond to ever-increasing market competition. Designed to work seamlessly with SAP solutions, our easy-to-consume cloud offerings solve business problems in new ways, while simultaneously extending customers’ existing investments. Read on to learn about SAP’s top cloud solutions and how they can help your business thrive.

1. SAP Business ByDesign

SAP Business ByDesign helps small companies as well as large organizations and their subsidiaries increase profitability and decrease costs by delivering a cloud-based, two-tier ERP solution. This structure allows companies to streamline and optimize high-impact, cross-organizational business processes across the enterprise ecosystem.

SAP Business ByDesign helps subsidiaries to increase control and efficiency by:

Minimizing the need for an extensive internal IT department

Enabling fast and inexpensive deployment

Integrating all subsidiary functions for a 360-degree view of the business

In addition, SAP Business ByDesign features out-of-the-box integration into SAP Business Suite, helping corporate headquarters to cost-effectively achieve the need for subsidiary governance and compliance, regulatory transparency, operational metrics visibility, efficient cross-functional business processes, key data rollup, and effective use of centralized business functions.1

2. SAP Sales OnDemand

Designed from the ground up for today’s salespeople, SAP Sales OnDemand is built on the SAP Business ByDesign solution platform. It combines the advantages of social, mobile, and cloud technologies, giving employees everything they need to work smarter and sell better.

SAP Sales OnDemand includes built-in social collaboration features that enable salespeople to quickly and easily work with their sales network to share best practices, find relevant customer information, and close deals. The solution includes a real-time, information-update feed, offering visibility into necessary data to allow sales teams to effectively manage activities, contacts, accounts, and opportunities, as well as analyze their performance (see Figure 1). This functionality is supported on many mobile devices including BlackBerry, iPhone, and iPad, enabling sales professionals to do their work anytime and anywhere with the tool they prefer.

SAP Sales OnDemand offers services and integration into SAP Business Suite software; customers can adapt and improve business processes specifically for their sales teams without disrupting the company’s existing IT landscape.

3. SAP Travel OnDemand

SAP Travel OnDemand enables employees to intuitively manage all aspects of their business travel — from trip approval, to planning and booking, to expense submission and reimbursement. The solution provides real-time guidance to help employees stay within corporate travel policies, so business travelers can concentrate on their business goals rather than on travel logistics. With SAP Travel OnDemand, users can enter and submit receipts and expense reports anytime, which leads to faster approvals and payments (see Figure 2). It also ensures that employees better understand corporate compliance standards, booking policies, preferred travel suppliers, and expense limits.

Like SAP Sales OnDemand, SAP Travel OnDemand offers services and integration into SAP Business Suite software and is built on the SAP Business ByDesign solution platform. Companies do not have to alter their existing IT landscapes in order to leverage this offering, saving both time and money.

4. SAP Sourcing OnDemand

Procurement professionals play an important role in helping a company obtain measurable cost savings — and SAP Sourcing OnDemand is the tool that makes this job easier. This solution enables employees to proactively manage every aspect of the sourcing process including strategic sourcing of materials and services, comprehensive contract management, and effective supplier negotiation. It is designed to help deliver quick access to benefits, maximize cost savings opportunities, and provide real-time visibility across the sourcing process. SAP Sourcing OnDemand offers services and integration into SAP Business Suite software.2

5. SAP Carbon Impact OnDemand

SAP Carbon Impact OnDemand enables companies to accurately measure and compare carbon intensity across their entire base of operations — a necessary ability during a time in which businesses face increasing pressure to reduce and regulate their carbon emissions. The solution assists companies in executing the most effective abatement strategy for their business and keeping track of their sustainability efforts. SAP Carbon Impact OnDemand can deliver a level of insight into your carbon emissions that spans all scopes by pulling the most up-to-date data from your operational systems, meaning that companies can quickly optimize their abatement options.

6. SAP StreamWork

SAP StreamWork is an on-demand solution designed to streamline employee collaboration. By providing the ability to upload and share documents and data, SAP StreamWork unites workers with the most updated information, enabling more meaningful conversations and improved productivity. It works with a company’s existing applications and also contains a built-in catalog of business tools like SWOT analyses, consensus votes and quick polls, agendas and timelines, and pro/con tables. SAP StreamWork is now available as a mobile application on BlackBerry and iPhone devices.

7. SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) OnDemand enables the exploration, reporting, and sharing of data in a software-as-a-service model. It provides powerful search and browse functionality in preconfigured, customizable templates, and it offers an intuitive interface. Customers can also perform ad hoc reporting and on-time reporting. SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand can be up and running in minutes, delivering a complete view of your business for informed decision making.

Explore Cloud Solutions in 2012

These top cloud solutions are designed to help your business succeed in today’s working environment, addressing your challenges and pain points. Be on the lookout for new cloud solution offerings from SAP, as we develop a broader portfolio to fulfill your needs.

Paige Leidig (paige.leidig@sap.com) is Vice President at SAP, responsible for solution marketing of the line-of-business on-demand portfolio. He has over 15 years of experience bringing compelling new technologies to market.

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